"The most common characteristic of all police states is intimidation by surveillance. Citizens know they are being watched and overheard. Their mail is being examined. Their homes can be invaded." ~ Vance Packard

A Den of Vipers and Thieves

Then, as now, the bankers were inflating the money supply, speculating with the bank-created funds, paying themselves massive bonuses out of the profits whenever they won and sticking the taxpayers with the losses whenever they lost.